AARDVARK (AKA: PUT IT IN YOUR PIPE AND SMOKE IT)

The majesty of the Hammond organ is not to be denied. If I were a religious man I'd say that God created the organ on the eighth day, having completed the universe and the globe on which we all reside. Now, that is for one and all to decide whether that is true or not. Personally I'll just conclude that it is my favorite instrument alongside mellotron and moog and electric piano. Especially when it comes to progressive rock.

Aardvark released this only and selftitled album in 1970. At it's core you find the Hammond organ alongside bass guitar and drums. On the surface it all resembles Emerson, Lake and Palmer or other keyboard-drums-bass groups of the era. The only real difference being the amount of brilliance and quality on display. A quick listen gives you the appearance of heavy riff- oriented prog songs, each of them (apart from a couple) with fairly long running time. So far so good.

The ingredients are enough to drive me crazy with delight but put together they do not amount to as much as I would have hoped for. I love the heavy ELP-riff of opener, COpper Sunset, and I like the track. It's not the greatest but it's fairly alright. The riff is better than the song as a whole, though. The next track is more mellow, with a piano instead of organ. That's okay but not amazing. The third track, Many things to do, doesn't fare better, despite the return of the organ. And it goes on in that fashion. Alright but not great. There are bits that are very likable and even great but it's like a plate of food where two items out of eight are truly enjoyable. The problem is that the album sounds forced, like they really haven't had time to come up with something memorable. The vocals are quite weak and offers little delight. If the vocals had been more powerful I think it might have disguised the rather poor music on offering. The last track, it must be said, Put that in your pipe and smoke it, is probably the best track with it's chaotic playing from all participants.

When all is said and done, Aardvark is one of those bands that are put on display labelled "OBSCURE" and thus evokes interest. Sometimes "OBSCURE" simply means forgotten brilliance but in the case of Aardvark it just spells "so-and-so" or even "mediocre".